


The Forest Queen

by redradioflyer



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: F/M, First Meeting, Shapeshifting, Storytelling, forest spirit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 03:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17093351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redradioflyer/pseuds/redradioflyer
Summary: Alfred strays deep into the forest following the path of a deer, and he meets a woman who is larger than life and definitely not human.





	The Forest Queen

****Alfred staggers out through the underbrush, following the stars and trying to get back to the part of the forest that he knew well. He shouldn’t have followed the deer so far, but he was hungry. Food hadn’t been as plentiful in this woods as he’d thought, and he thought traveling through would be easier than it was. If he’d known, he’d have stocked up more at the last town. **  
**

Not that he had a great amount of money for things like that, but he’d have tried to stretch his coin farther.

Still rather hopelessly lost, he decides perhaps that stopping and setting up camp before nightfall might be his only option. So he finds a clearing, and singing to himself a little, he starts setting up a fire.

Just as he is about to settle down to a meal of hard bread and dried meat, he sees her. Out at the edge of the light, the deer is back, eyeing him. Before he can even reach for his bow though, her fur seems to ripple and she drops back into shadow for the barest moment.

Then a woman comes forward, wrapped in fur and hair a tangled mess of flowers and leaves. She’s tall, much taller than him, and she comes into the light.

“Why are you in my forest, human?” the woman asks, as she moves to settle next to his fire.

“Your forest, ma’am?” He swallows and straightens up just a bit. She doesn’t reply and merely tilts her head. After a moment, Alfred coughs and says, “I’m an explorer ma’am.”

“An explorer…?” She arches a brow and seems rather expectant. She seems to Alfred like a confident strong animal, peering at him with curiosity but ever ready to move away if he meant danger.

“Yes, I.. I like to travel. I have little family, but I like nature, the wilds. I travel and I see things, and I write it down sometimes. I tell tall tales about creatures and monsters in the woods.”

“And have you ever met a creature in the wild?” Her lips have tilted up the barest bit as she asks.

Alfred considers this and after a long moment, he smiles and says, “Other than you, fairest lady, not really. I usually just weave fantastic tales for children.”

She rises and comes closer to study him, moving to his pack and picking out a piece of bread to sniff at it. Though she doesn’t speak, her eyes seek permission from him.

“Go ahead and try it,” Alfred says. “It’s not so good though. It keeps a long time, which is why I brought it with me.”

Nodding, she does try a bite, but she scrunches her nose up in obvious distaste. She puts it back, and then, still leaning down and hunched a bit, she comes close. “Tell me one of your tall tales, traveler. I want to hear them.”

So Alfred smiles, and though she doesn’t show her emotion to his stories, he can tell that she is enjoying them. So he talks and eventually she is sitting at his feet, leaning against his knees.

—

Deep into the night, the spirit rises from her spot, and she starts to walk toward the edge of camp.

“Wait!” Alfred says, standing as well and feeling for the first time the true difference in their heights. He was 5’9” himself, and he didn’t think that was too bad at all, but she was over six feet tall and he felt small in comparison. “I don’t even know your name.”

“My name…?” She turns to study him and for a moment her eyes seem very distance. She’s thinking hard about something and then she just shrugs, “You may call me Magnolia, if you must call me anything.”

He blinks at her and almost laughs. “Did you just pick something right now?”

“Perhaps,” she says back, looking a bit defensive. “Would that be so bad? You are human and names seem very important to you.”

Alfred chances to come closer. “And Magnolia. Is that important to you?”

She smiles, turning to face him more fully. “It’s a strong and beautiful plant. Like all plants, it’s roots are deep. I am not like you, wanderer. I have roots deep in this forest. So it seemed…”

“Appropriate…?” Alfred supplies, and now he’s standing in front of her and looking up into her eyes. “I, uh, I have one more question, if that’s alright.”

Instead of saying anything, she merely nods, studying his face now in the flickering firelight.

“Did you… You were the deer right, so did you lead me here…? Just to have a chance to talk with me?”

Her smile is small, and her hand comes up, stroking over his arms, feeling the muscle there. “And if I did? Would that make you afraid of me.”

“Not at all,” he replies. His face is bright red by now though, and he is rising up to his tip toes. “But I would be quite flattered.”

He pauses like that, lips almost to hers, and he is waiting for her reaction to him. He’d not steal an unwilling kiss. She looks confused though, and merely leans in to nudge her nose against his. Perhaps she didn’t know what a kiss was at all, but she doesn't seem unwilling.

So, Alfred slides a hand into the back of her hair, and he pulls her down for a kiss, still up on his tiptoes to reach her mouth.

She makes a small sound against his lips, but she doesn’t pull away. In fact, her arms come up around his waist and she’s almost picking him up to get him closer. After the first tentative kiss, he pulls back to look into her eyes and gauge her reaction to him. Her expression is impassive for a moment and then her eyes glance down at his mouth.

“Again,” she finally says, tone curious and yet demanding.

So he smiles and leans up on the tips of his toes again to catch her lips with his. She responds with more passion than he even expects.

When they fall together to the ground, she doesn’t even let him stop to get his bedroll. Perhaps that was just as well, because the forest queen is plenty capable of keeping him warm through the night. 


End file.
